Cyntoia Brown was only 16 when she was convicted of the murder of a man who she was forced to have sex with. She ran away from a cocaine addict mother at 15 and was forced into sex trafficking while also being brutally raped and assaulted multiple times. She was sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison over an act of self-defense. Many people think the Cyntoia Brown case is an example of the unreasonable incarceration of a teenage victim.
For the past few years, controversies surrounding prisons have been the talk of American politics. According to a 2005 survey conducted by The U.S Department of Justice, there are approximately 356,000 inmates in American state prisons with serious mental disorders and only 35,000 individuals in state psychiatric wards. This means that there is about 10x more individuals with mental illness in state prisons than in hospitals. American prisons should not be replacing mental hospitals. Instead, American citizens on trial should be given access to the mental health care needed in order to get better.
It’s not a coincidence that 6 out of 10 states with the least access to mental health care have the highest rates of incarceration. This shows a direct correlation between mental illness and those who are imprisoned. Instead of offering American citizens the help they need, we are sending them to prison which in turn takes a negative toll on their mental state. This also causes our prisons to overcrowd and is costing our taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sending the mentally ill to prison instead of offering them help also causes the overcrowding of prisons. This can lead to poor prison conditions such as no healthcare, poor sanitation, and not enough food. In 2014, 18 states were operating their prisons at more than 100% capacity. This shows how common it is for prisons to overcrowd and for prisoners to be denied basic human rights such as food.
While many may argue that criminals should be held responsible for their actions, and while I agree with that, I think that those who are incarcerated with mental illnesses or who have experienced trauma should be sent to a court-ordered rehab facility instead of jail. This would allow them to receive treatment and work on their mental health in hopes of being better individuals when released. It would also contribute towards improving the conditions of prisons and providing better resources for those in jail.
Incarcerating American citizens who struggle with mental illness is a human rights issue. American citizens are deserving of basic needs such as food and healthcare, including access to mental health help. When one spends their life in prison, they are stripped of their rights and oftentimes their mental health becomes more severe, causing an even more unsafe environment in and outside of a cell.